Version 1
: Received: 9 September 2024 / Approved: 10 September 2024 / Online: 10 September 2024 (09:01:11 CEST)
How to cite:
Joseph, R. A.; Masoudi, A.; Valdiviezo, M. J.; Keyhani, N. O. Discovery of Gibellula floridensis from Infected Spiders and Analysis of the Surrounding Fungal Entomopathogen Community. Preprints2024, 2024090736. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0736.v1
Joseph, R. A.; Masoudi, A.; Valdiviezo, M. J.; Keyhani, N. O. Discovery of Gibellula floridensis from Infected Spiders and Analysis of the Surrounding Fungal Entomopathogen Community. Preprints 2024, 2024090736. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0736.v1
Joseph, R. A.; Masoudi, A.; Valdiviezo, M. J.; Keyhani, N. O. Discovery of Gibellula floridensis from Infected Spiders and Analysis of the Surrounding Fungal Entomopathogen Community. Preprints2024, 2024090736. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0736.v1
APA Style
Joseph, R. A., Masoudi, A., Valdiviezo, M. J., & Keyhani, N. O. (2024). Discovery of <em>Gibellula floridensis </em>from Infected Spiders and Analysis of the Surrounding Fungal Entomopathogen Community. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0736.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Joseph, R. A., Mateo J Valdiviezo and Nemat O Keyhani. 2024 "Discovery of <em>Gibellula floridensis </em>from Infected Spiders and Analysis of the Surrounding Fungal Entomopathogen Community" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0736.v1
Abstract
Characterization of fungal spider pathogens lags far behind their insect counterparts. In addition, little to nothing is known concerning ecological reservoir and/or fungal entomopathogen community surrounding infection sites. Five infected spider cadavers were identified in the neo-tropical climate of north central Florida, US, from three of which viable cultures could be obtained. Multilocus molecular phylogenetic and morphological characteristics identified one isolate as a new species of Gibellula, named, G. floridensis, and the other two as isolates of Parengyodontium album. To examine the insect fungal community sampling of different habitats/trophic levels including soil, leaf litter, leaf, and twig from the surrounding area of the infection sites were collected and analyzed by ITS amplicon sequencing. These data revealed broad but differential distribution of entomopathogenic fungi between habitats and some variation between sites, with members of genera Metarhizium and Metacordyceps from Clavicipitaceae, Purpureocillium and Polycephalomyces from Ophiocordyceps, and Akanthomyces and Simplicillium from Cordycipitaceae, predominating. However, no sequences corresponding to Gibellula or Parengyodontium, even at the genera levels could be detected. Potential explanations for these findings are discussed. These data highlight novel discovery of fungal spider pathogens and open the broader question regarding the environmental distribution and ecological niches of such host specific pathogens.
Keywords
spider; insect and spider fungal pathogens; Gibellula; habitat; amplicon sequencing
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Parasitology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
